There are many known molding products and methods of manufacture of such products.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,152 (Friesner) which issued Dec. 18, 1973, discloses a method and apparatus for producing a trim strip assembly. The trim strip has an extruded thermoplastic base member having a strip member with a metal-like appearance superimposed thereon and a transparent extruded plastic top coating.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,100,243 (Wissinger et al.) which issued Jul. 11, 1978, discloses a process for sizing an extruded thermoplastic structure formed by coextrusion of a core profile of one thermoplastic material and a cover layer of another thermoplastic material provided over a portion of the periphery of the core profile.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,778 (Mesnel) which issued Jan. 15, 1980, discloses a method for joining two extruded strips at a miter joint, where each strip includes a thermoplastic gripper portion glued to a thermosetting elastomer portion. The method involves the injection of a polyurethane thermoplastic resin into the joint between the thermoplastic portions and contemporaneous curing of the elastomeric portions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,681 (Narita) which issued Sep. 2, 1980, discloses a trim piece for automobiles. A thin metal layer is integrally laminated on a plastic substrate and the metal layer is partially or wholly coated with a soft PVC resin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,772 (Bezner) which issued Oct. 5, 1982, discloses a method and apparatus for injection-molding a plastic manifold onto tubular elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,897 (Akashi et al.) which issued Oct. 23, 1984, discloses a compound molding including a metal portion having polyvinyl chloride or the like extruded onto it. There is an intermediate extruded acrylonitrile butadiene styrene layer or the like between the metal portion and the polyvinyl chloride portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,530 (Zaccaria) which issued Aug. 29, 1989, discloses a method for sizing a weather strip as it is manufactured by omitting portions of extruded materials which then act as reference points for a cutting operation. A weather strip having a metal core surrounded by extruded elastomeric material is shown.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,103 (Roberts et al.) which issued Oct. 23, 1990, discloses a method and apparatus for extruding a molding strip having an outer polyurethane layer bonded to a central PVC layer is described. A reinforcing strip is embedded in the PVC portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,988 (Iwasa) which issued Jun. 23, 1992, discloses a process for obtaining a cloth finish on an extruded rubber article.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,307 (Jackson) which issued Sep. 29, 1992 describes a belt molding having "U"-shaped support member with a thermoplastic elastomer material such as Santoprene 3101-64 extruded onto a first portion and a thermoplastic material such as polyvinyl chloride extruded onto a second portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,141 (Borys et al.) which issued Jan. 26, 1993, describes an extruded trim piece having a metal substrate with a terpolymer of ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) coating bonded to one area of the metal substrate and a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coating bonded to another area of the metal substrate.
A number of other patent documents disclose vehicle moldings:
______________________________________ Country & No. Name Date ______________________________________ US 1,476,509 Hart December 4, 1923 US 2,910,033 Weisburg October 27, 1959 US 3,122,804 Stawinski March 3, 1964 US 3,188,730 Meyer June 15, 1965 US 3,606,433 Kunevicius Septemver 20, 1971 US 3,681,887 Loew August 8, 1972 US 3,687,502 Loew August 29, 1972 US 3,770,545 Jackson November 6, 1973 US 3,856,194 Helm December 24, 1974 US 4,246,303 Townsend January 20, 1981 US 4,800,699 Lang January 31, 1989 ______________________________________
The foregoing documents thus describe a variety of molding products and methods and apparatuses for product manufacture, but do not address problems associated with providing the products with end members.
Automotive belt moldings are often required to be provided with end members. End members are aesthetically and functionally desirable. Moldings, at least as related to the present invention, have an elongate core longitudinal ends of which are desired not to be exposed once the molding is installed on a vehicle.
A belt molding is often hollow, having a central core with an interior cross-sectional profile that does not match the exterior profile of the portion of the vehicle to which it is attached. While a lower lengthwise edge of such a molding mounted on a car door abuts the door, there is a gap between the underside of the molding and the vehicle portion concealed by the molding. End portions are thus desirable to bridge the gap between the molding and vehicle part to which the molding is attached. This is aesthetically desirable and also provides a sealing function to preclude ingress of water. Further, end portions should be shaped to abut the vehicle so as to prevent snagging of clothing, etc. by the molding. A number of approaches has thus been taken to the provision of suitable end portions as part of vehicle moldings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,482 (Jubelt) which issued Nov. 9, 1982, discloses a method for end finishing an elongated composite trim strip. The show surface of a strip is coated with a mask material and the strip is cut so that the mask material covers the show surface adjacent the cut end. The end is painted and the mask material cut away.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,847 (Jackson) which issued Oct. 28, 1986, discloses a trim strip having an injection molded finishing portion and a method for manufacture thereof. An elongate extruded trim strip has ends modified by cutters and each end is loaded into an injection molding die. Thermoplastic material is injection molded onto each modified end. According to this approach, a molding having a seam at each end, at the interface of the strip and injection molded portion, is obtained. Further, it is difficult to match the finish of the plastic trim strip, if it is extruded, and the plastic of the injection-molded portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,902 (Yada et al.) which issued Feb. 4, 1992, provides a possible solution to the problem of unsightly seams. In one disclosed embodiment a metal core has a film laminated onto it. The resultant product is roll-formed to the desired profile and longitudinal PVC edges are extruded onto the core. The material is cut into strips and each end of the strip has portions cut away to form notches. A portion of each end is folded into place and PVC end portions are injection molded onto each end. This approach is relatively complicated in that it requires cutting and bending into place portions of each end of the strip. Further, it does not fully address the problem of seams. There is still a seam between extruded and injection molded portions and between laminate portion and extruded portions. Presumably there is also a joint formed in corner areas at each corner where the bent portion of the extruded strip meets the remaining extruded portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,764 (VanManen) which issued Mar. 9, 1982, discloses a method of extrusion and injection molding of a trimmed product. This document describes a trim piece having an extruded trim strip onto which is formed an injection molded part. The extruded trim strip includes a decorative trim strip pressed onto an extruded (transparent) base. The strip is bent and placed in a mold and a support shell is injected molded onto its reverse face. The strip is flexible and is bent to match the shape of the end portions of the extruded support. The strip thus provides a decorative portion to an injection molded support.
Other approaches to furnishing moldings with end pieces are described in the following documents:
______________________________________ Country & No. Name Date ______________________________________ US 3,359,030 Newman December 19, 1967 US 3,388,523 Evans June 18, 1968 US 3,506,294 Newman April 14, 1970 US 3,606,432 Honatzis September 20, 1971 US 3,752,521 Lafebre August 14, 1973 US 3,777,438 Brown December 11, 1973 US 3,817,016 Barenyi June 18, 1974 US 3,894,763 Barenyi July 15, 1975 US 4,066,285 Hall et al. January 3, 1978 US 4,220,365 Foster et al. September 2, 1980 US 4,235,466 Mandrik November 25, 1980 US 4,709,525 Adell December 1, 1987 ______________________________________